Why Cryo? Cure Your Winter Blues.
Do the winter months get you down more than you think they should? If so, you may be suffering from seasonal depression, or Season Affective Disorder (SAD), and we have a cool way to help you kick those blues.
What Are the Symptoms Seasonal Affective Disorder?
Less energy
Trouble concentrating
Fatigue
Greater appetite
Increased desire to be alone
Greater need for sleep
Weight gain
Lack of motivation
Why It Works
While exposing yourself to more cold seems a bit illogical in combatting the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder, there actually may be some useful application. During a whole body cryotherapy session the body experiences a mild form of shock, this shock creates a fight or flight reaction. During these reactions the hypothalamus in the brain signals to the adrenal glands that it's time to produce adrenaline and other stress hormones. The adrenal glands produce adrenaline by transforming the amino acid tyrosine into dopamine. Oxygenation of dopamine yields noradrenaline, which is then converted into adrenaline. So, why is this important?
Simply put dopamine is the chemical in the brain associated with happiness. When the body is stimulated to produce more if it depression subsides, and anxiety levels drop. There have been blind studies done in Poland that confirm the results. People using cryotherapy that were dealing with depressive disorders were recovering quicker than their counterparts who weren't taking part of the treatment.
And if you don't want to take our word for it, check out this blog post from a health-minded individual who wanted to test it out for herself.